BENGALURU: As the saying goes ‘eat the mangoes, don’t count the trees’. This mango season treat yourself to the ongoing mango festival 'Aamlicious' at Khandani Rajdhani chain of restaurants spread over 27 cities in India and one in the Middle East. Rajdhani is known for its king size thali of Guajarati cuisine that they serve to their customers. This mango season, be ready to witness the riot of flavours, spices and celebration of senses that lingers for days. The Aamlicious festival will end on May 31, across the country.
I was lucky enough to witness and enjoy their Aamlicious thali at Indiranagar branch. As welcome drinks, they served us with two refreshing drinks, one being the kairi panna, a raw mango based tangy drink. It was sweet, savour and salty and had a touch of Jeera, which was very well balanced. The other one being the mango thandai, a concoction of riped mango, a handful of rich Pista and badam. This drink was more on a heavier side and truly rich in flavours. Next up, they started with serving four varieties of chutney - kairi onion chutney, kairi coconut chutney, green chutney and chunda mango chutney. The chutney had a sour yet tangy taste to it.
The waiters then quickly kept filling the thali with a number of items. The mango corn bhel and kacchi kairi khichiya chat were a relish to eat and the crispy bhel and tangy mango syrup was also a delight. After this, they started to serve the main dishes, which consisted of 20 varieties of items. One of their speciality is the aam dal dhokli, which was prepared with normal dal, with a touch of raw mango and the special Gujarat dhokli. It had the correct amount of spice with a touch of tanginess from the raw mango. The special roti they had prepared was the kairi maithi thelpa. It wasn’t the regular thepla which is usually prepared, but it had a taste of raw mango in it, with dollops of butter and pure ghee. Fajito khadi was another dish that grabbed my attention instantly, khadi as we eat is the normal khadi with pakoda, but this particular one had riped mango flavour which made it a sweet khadi.
The thali consisted of not only mango based dishes but were accompanied with their regular dishes like, parwal ki subji, paneer ki subji and the Gujarati dal. Their aim was not to make the whole platter mango-based, as that would stop the customer from eating more. Hence, they stayed with the idea of keeping regular dishes. The dhoklas weren’t as exciting as the other items, as it did not stand up to the mango flavour.
No meal can be complete without desserts. One more brilliant surprise was waiting to be tasted which was the hapus jalebi. This was nothing like the regular round jalebi. It was prepared by dipping small pieces of mango into the jalebi batter and deep fried until golden brown. As you take your first bite, the concoction of mango and sugar syrup takes you to another world of satisfaction. Indeed a good way to finish a meal.
Recommended dishes: aam dal dhokli, kairi panna, hapus jalebi, aam ki subji aur pyaz, kacchi kairi khichiya chaat. Overall rating -4/5.